


Vaughan Kendells Is A Shem Bastard

by MeetMeInThePit (Gil_Galads)



Series: Marla Tabris Kicks Ass (And Gets The Boy) [1]
Category: Dragon Age: Origins
Genre: F/M, Gen, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, alistair is a good friend, its a very small non-graphic mention tho, this is right after the thing with goldanna
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-20
Updated: 2016-07-20
Packaged: 2018-07-25 16:34:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,698
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7539925
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gil_Galads/pseuds/MeetMeInThePit
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Or, Goldanna's a bitch, Marla Tabris spits on things she doesn't like, and then there's story time in a shady back alley off the Denerim lower market.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Vaughan Kendells Is A Shem Bastard

**Author's Note:**

> so i've become a bit obsessed with tabristair since i started playing da:o, and i've been spending a good deal of time without internet, and so i've been writing fanfiction in the notes on my phone. it's all cool. 
> 
> side note: Marla Tabris is a warrior, a very violent person, and she is 100% stricken with Shem Boy Fever, as Shianni would have called it. She's also not very good with emotions, or trusting humans. It's all very confusing for poor Alistair.
> 
> EDIT (1/5/17): i reread this and realized that the dialogue didn't sound at all like marla, so I went and changed all of her lines. and a bit of the storyline. because fuck it, thats why.

Alistair walked out of Goldanna's house in a daze. He'd hoped for some sort of family (finally), but he'd only found a bitter, mean old harpy. Next to him, Marla kicked the door jamb on her way out, muttered 'shem bitch' under her breath, and spat on the side of the house. She'd been doing a lot of that lately- not the spitting (actually, now that he thought about it, Marla spat a lot in general), but the calling people shems. Particularly since they'd gotten to Denerim. Particularly since she'd gone off to the city on her own yesterday morning, and come back in a foul mood that afternoon, cursing and spitting and glaring like she wanted the world to drop dead. That night she'd propositioned him, and he'd turned her down, and a load of tension had seemed to fall off her shoulders. She'd apologized, and gotten piss-drunk with Zevran before going to bed. In her own tent. Alone.

"Hey, Marla?"

"Yeah, Alistair?" She was kind of distracted, looking at the soft off-white fabrics displayed in a merchant's stall like they reminded her of something.

"Um, I've noticed something." He really didn't want to piss her off, or sound like another human jackass. He liked Marla. A lot. So much so that he blushed a bit just thinking of how much he liked her. And anyway, he was pretty sure he wasn't all the way human, even if he looked that way to most people.

"Y'have?" She said, turning to him, an amused quirk to her mouth. Ooh, her mouth…

"You've, uh, been calling people shems a lot more than usual. Especially since yesterday. Did something happen yesterday?" Oh shit, something must have happened yesterday. Something bad.

Her face fell, a sour look twisting its way across her lips, like she'd seen someone do something particularly nasty. She sighed, ran a hand over her hair. "Y'know I'm from Denerim, right?"

"You are?" He hadn't known that, actually. Though, it did explain how well she knew the back alleys they'd fought those gangs in.

"Didn't Duncan say which midden heap he dragged me out of?"

"Er, no, actually, he didn't." That was a bit odd.

"Well, yesterday I came here by myself to visit my family."

"Let me guess, it went as badly as my family visit." No wonder she was so pissed off, if something like what'd happened with Goldanna had happened with her family.

"No…” She looked away, clenching her jaw. “I didn't even get to see them. The Alienage's under lockdown by order of the new Arl. No one comes out, no one goes in."

"What?! Why?" An entire section of the city shut off? No one inside allowed to go out to their jobs, or to the market? "You used to live there, you should be allowed in!"

Marla laughed darkly. "Tell that to the elven kids I saw sittin' outside the gate, begging for scraps. They live there now, and _they're_ not allowed back in. Lockdown's lockdown."

Alistair was in shock. Redcliffe hadn't actually had a walled Alienage like the bigger cities, though it did have an elven quarter. Nothing like this had happened there. Nothing like this could happen there.

"Why is the Alienage under lockdown, then?" There had to actually be a good reason for it, no one would just do that. Right?

Marla's face said otherwise. She shook her head, and looked around. Wynne was occupied with an apothecary stand, and Cheese was happily playing with a few of the children running around the marketplace. Alistair followed her gaze, trying to figure out what she was looking for. Then he yelped and tripped over his own feet as she pulled him into an alley by the leather straps on his breastplate. Andraste’s tits, swinging that giant sword around had really done something for her arms, hadn't it?

"What was that for?!" He hissed, rubbing his shin where he'd managed to accidentally kick himself.

"I can't just tell you out in the open, I might get arrested!" She hissed back, crossing her arms with a clank of armor and chainmail.

"What story? Does this have something to do with why the Alienage is closed off?" Now he was curious. This sounded interesting. Then Marla smacked him. "Ow!"

"Not so loud!"

"Sorry!" He whispered back to her, feeling a bit silly. "So what's this story?"

"It's why Duncan had to invoke the Right of Conscription on me, and why the Alienage's locked down right now." Marla had never actually said much about her past, or what her life was like before the Wardens, or how she'd been recruited. From the look of her face (the same one, he realized, that she'd had when Arlessa Isolde had implied she thought that elves couldn't be Grey Wardens), it wasn't a fun story. In fact, Alistair hadn't even known Duncan had been forced to use the Right with her. "First, you need to know that I was arranged to be married to a blacksmith, Nelaros, from Highever Alienage."

"You were betrothed?!" That was definitely not expected.

"Shut up an' let me tell the story!"

"Sorry, I was just... surprised."

"Yeah, well, shut up about it." Marla did that thing where she managed to look down on him despite being a full head shorter. Alistair blushed. Again. "So me and Nelaros were going to marry, and his family came here from Highever, along with the family of my cousin Soris' betrothed. We were going to get married on the same day, y'see." 

"I think I actually looked kinda fancy for once, when I was all laced up in my ma's old wedding gown, with flowers in my hair. It was nice..." She shook her head. "But then Arl Urien's son and all his lackeys come walkin' into the Alienage like they belonged there. They might've good as owned the place, but they sure as hell didn't belong."

Alistair felt a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. Rich human men and elves never mix well.

"They saw me an' Shianni, my other cousin, an' the bridesmaids, and started asking us how much we charged, an' such. All crass like. There were stories 'bout Vaughan, even the shems knew 'em. Everyone knew he was the reason Eddalina floated up under the docks, but we couldn't do anythin' about it, on account of who he was.” Marla had a distant look in her eyes.

"I told him to get lost, and he called me an ugly bitch of a rabbit, said any man who married me'd have to like fuckin' from behind, else my face'd scare 'im off.” She grinned a little at that. "Well, I 'spose that's true, but ain't like it's my fault I'm ugly."

Privately, Alistair thought she was beautiful, and had often caught himself sighing over her strong jawline and her crooked nose, but he wasn't quite sure how to go about telling her that

“Meanwhile, cousin Shianni's gone an' snuck up around behind him, and when he went to grab at me she smashed a bottle of ol' Granny Laurel's moonshine over 'is head, knocked 'im out cold, all sudden like. His little toadies were so busy tryin' to make sure he wasn't dead they didn't notice us pickin' up our skirts and hightailin' it outta there. Figure they must of dragged him off home after that, 'cause we didn't see 'em again for a few hours." Marla mimed like she was picking up invisible skirts, and did a couple exaggeratedly dainty steps. Alistair laughed- she looked ridiculous.

"Yeah, skirts are shit for runnin' in. Anyway, we took a shortcut past the Hahren's house and saw this shady lookin' shem hangin' around, wearin' armor and a whole bunch of knives. So I went and told him that humans weren't welcome in the Alienage. But he goes and says he's a friend of the Hahren, and he was wantin' to talk to him. I told him that was horseshit, and he could get lost or I'd throw 'im out on his arse. Then Hahren Valendrian 'imself comes walkin' up, and says he actually is a friend of his, and that he was a Grey Warden and his name was Duncan." 

_"What?!"_ Alistair sputtered. _Of course_ Marla would have threatened Duncan the first time she met him. Of course. It was just like her to do something like that. 

"Yeah, that's how I met Duncan the first time. He said my ma knew him, back when she was runnin' 'round the Bannorn swindlin' rich shems out of their money after King Marric drove the Orleisians out." She smiled, "He said I reminded him of her, 'cause she threatened him too, the first time they met."

"So we go off and everything's goin' fine, me and Nelaros get hitched, he gives me a gold ring he made himself, Soris decides he actually does like his new wife after all, and then Vaughan and his toadies show back up just as the party's startin'. They wanted revenge, 'cause Shianni'd bottled Vaughan, and they hadn't gotten their way with us. So they just walked right up in the middle of everythin', and dragged me, Shianni, Soris' bride Valora, and the two bridesmaids Nola and Amira off." Marla got quiet, and looked off into the distance. Alistair swallowed roughly. "No one could do anything 'cause they were rich shems and that's just how it is." 

"I tried fighting 'em, but the one hit me 'cross the face and I got knocked out. I woke up in the castle, with the other girls, and Nola was prayin' real hard, like Herself'd suddenly come down and save a few knife ears." The Chantry wasn't kind to elves; it never had been. "When the guards came in to get us she panicked, started screaming and sobbin', and they didn't like that. Ran her through, the one did, just left her to bleed out on the floor." 

Marla's breath hitched, and she sat down hard on the ground. Alistair sat down beside her, back against that wall. He wanted desperately to pull her into his arms, tell her he was there for her, but Maker, she still flinched like he'd hit her when she was startled. So they sat there, quiet, for a moment, until Marla drew a deep breath and went on.

"They took Shianni, Valora, and Amira away but the one what killed Nola says Vaughan wants the others untouched, but they can have me, so he starts coming up real close to me and I'm getting ready to fight, and then Soris shows up with a crossbow and a sword. Just pops his head in the door and hollers at 'em to leave me alone! I was so shocked." She laughed. "Thought I was done for." 

"Now, cousin Soris, he’s kind of weedy lookin’, so the shem bastard jus' starts laughin', asks him if he can even keep the tip of the sword off the ground." Marla laughs, and her eyes shine cruelly in the dark alley. Alistair is rather affected by it, and tries not to blush. "Soris slides the sword across the floor to me, and I grab it quick-like, while he's got the shem distracted. My damn cousin never had a chance with that sword, but I sure did! I killed the bastard."

"What... what happened then?" Alistair was almost afraid to ask. The dark turn the story had taken didn’t sit right in his stomach. 

"Then, we killed a way through the castle, raidin' the corpses for spare coin and such as we went. Nelaros was waitin' for us outside the room where Vaughan was holed up.” She laughed bitterly. “He was so sweet, Nelaros, he just wanted to stay outta trouble, but my damn family dragged him in by the ears.” Alistair reached out, put a hand on her shoulder. 

"Vaughan was in that damn room doin' my cousin Shianni dirty, an' all his friends were there holdin' her down. We came in and he fuckin' tried to fuckin' bribe us to leave the city! Said he wouldn’t purge the Alienage for what we’d done, if we took his money and left.” Marla took a moment to spit on the dirty alley ground and breath deeply, face tight and flushed with anger. “I told him where he could stick his blood money, and then one of his toadies picks up a crossbow and shoots Nelaros in the neck. So I cut off their heads. All of 'em. Even the ones Soris got with his crossbow.”

"After that we took Shianni and the others and went home. We took Nelaros and Nola's bodies with us, so the shems couldn't touch 'em." Alistair noticed then, that Marla was crying silently. His own eyes were rather prickly, and there was a lump in his throat. 

“I didn’t even have the time t' change outta my bloody weddin' gown before the guards showed up lookin' for the upstart knife-ear who’d gone and killed the Arl’s son and half his guards.”

"What did you do?"

"I stepped forward, told 'em was me what did it, and that no one else'd helped, and that I'd not repent my crime. They were jus' about to haul me off to the hangman when Duncan stepped in and called the Right of Conscription. I went with him to Ostagar, and well, y'know the rest." She shrugged, drying her eyes on the back of her glove, like it was that simple. 

They were silent for a long moment, Alistair working through the story she had told. It was... brutal. And it explained a lot about Marla. She didn't like to talk about her past, she didn't like to talk about romance (despite Leliana's best efforts), and the way that though she clearly trusted him, she still flinched and swore and reached for her sword whenever he came up behind her. The way she had been so closed-off and mistrustful of him at first. 

"And the lockdown?" Alistair was almost afraid to ask, but he did anyway, swallowing hard.

"The new Arl that Loghain set up ordered a purge of the Alienage after it happened, and then he locked everyone in. I just found out about it when I tried to go home yesterday."

And that, Alistair realized, was exactly what Marla had tried to prevent by stepping forward. It hadn't worked, and now for all she knew, her family and friends had been killed. He understood her anger. He gritted his teeth.

"What a, a- what a fucking shem bastard."

"Hah! Good one, Al." Marla smiled at him, damp and pained around the eyes. But she smiled. "He is a fuckin' shem bastard."

"Can I give you a hug, Marla?" He asked carefully, wanting to comfort her, but not knowing if he could. She nodded, and Alistair had started to slowly put his arms around her when she launched forward, and he found himself with an armful of small, heavily armored elf. He winced. "Ow."

"Whassamatter?" She mumbled from somewhere near his breastplate.

"Your pauldrons caught me in the neck..."

"Oh, sorry."

"It's okay."

They must have looked ridiculous standing there, two heavily armored warriors embracing like the world was about to end in a shabby back alley off the Denerim market. After a long few minutes Marla pulled back, sniffing a bit. Alistair studiously didn't notice her take off her gloves and wipe tears off her cheeks with the backs of her hands. 

"Alright!” Alistair said, clapping his hands decisively. “Let's go hug Wynne and Cheese, and then buy an entire tray of honey cakes to split with those kids you saw outside the Alienage!" He’d seen her eyeing the cakes earlier, and good food and hugs were the most quality emotional care Alistair could think of. Marla deserved good food and hugs.

"Why does Wynne need to hug me too?"She asked as she followed him out of the alley. 

"She's all soft and grandmotherly. I figure she'd give good hugs." Alistair explained, shrugging.

"Y'know, she probably would..." Said Marla, and while it wasn’t quite okay yet, it was better. Alistair smiled.

**Author's Note:**

> if u notice any errors please let me know!!! <3


End file.
